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FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Creating New Efficiencies

Buchanan & Edwards provides innovative services that empower diplomatic missions, support international trade development and help protect the interests of U.S. citizens abroad. By driving innovation, accelerating transformation and boosting efficiency, our next-generation IT solutions are helping the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development better execute their vital foreign affairs mission.

With nearly 20 years of experience supporting the U.S. Department of State, we understand the complex requirements of foreign affairs agencies, and apply this unique domain expertise to design and deploy solutions that are right for today and ready for tomorrow. Whether it’s leveraging data analytics to align mission resources, deploying cloud computing to transform the way services are delivered or modernizing legacy applications to dramatically improve performance, we work closely with our foreign affairs clients to ensure economy, efficiency and security.

Our extensive knowledge of the U.S. Department of State’s IT environment, combined with our intimate understanding of the nuances of working in embassies and posts overseas, helps us improve outcomes and maximize results.

CASE STUDY

Supporting the U.S. Department of State’s Worldwide Transfer System

Managing the transfer of personnel among the Department of State’s 34 domestic offices and 96 internationally located embassies and consulates is a big job. The turnover rate of American direct hire personnel can exceed 75 percent annually, which for large embassies can mean as many as 1,200 personnel and their families arriving and departing in a short period of time. To better manage this complex process, a new centralized arrival and departure system was developed with the support of Buchanan & Edwards.

Our experienced advisers helped guide the Department of State’s EUR-IO Application Development Group as it brought together a disparately located, multinational team of European developers, trainers and support staff to work on the project. Working both virtually and on-site overseas, we helped the customer establish the core strategies and capabilities needed to bring the Microsoft Azure Platform-as-a-Service and Software-as-a-Service solutions to fruition in support of the project. The strategy of moving mission-critical solutions to the cloud allows ADG to focus its limited resources on providing working solutions rather than being distracted by infrastructure concerns. It will also serve as a basis for other applications under development and for all new initiatives.